AT LONG LAST...

Sorry, don't have any pictures downloaded yet, but they will come. We've been here four weeks now and are happy to say we are doing really well. It was a long travel to get here but I don't think the kids could have done any better. It took about a week for them to get over jet-lag, but I think that's pretty good all things considered. We were here 2 days before going out to "the village" to start our homestay. Let me clarify village - here that just means the areas right outside the city. In the states we'd call it a suburb. Living is more rustic in the village (electricity is more spotty, no running water, pit toilet - you get the picture) but it's also quite peaceful and beautiful. If I compare it to my house in the states it's much more rustic, but if I compare it to backpacking it's pretty luxurious. The night sky reminds me of nights out under the stars in the cascades - absolutely beautiful. I look at Orion, the big dipper and Casiopia and think about how some of my loved ones may be looking at the same constellations at night (although I'm sure it's a much clearer view where we are - no city lights and all :). I digress - we arrived at the home of our host family on Oct. 24th. In their household there is a mom and dad (Muallim-Jon - which means dear teacher, and Khola-Jon his wife). They have 5 sons and 2 daughters. The way things work here (at least in the village) is that you marry off your daughters and marry in your daughter-in-laws. So daughter-in-laws move into the home of their husband and pretty much run the place. They are called kalenes and they do all the cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. Have you ever seen "A Day Without a Mexican"? I often think of that and imagine an equivalent here would be "A Day Without a Woman." Women keep this place running. I think it would take a long time for them to realize the men were gone but the whole country would probably shut down in 24hrs if the women disappeared. Anyway, our family has 2 kalenes - one has 4 daughters and has another baby due in December the other has 2 sons. The one with 2 sons (her name is Zanobar) husband is the second oldest son. His name is Jamshed. The other, Dilafruz, husband is the oldest son who is working in Russia right now. The youngest son, Alisher ("Ali - share") is 21 and is going to the university and teaching English to kids a little bit (don't let that fool you though, he doesn't speak English - I know that's confusing but let's just say that if you can read English you can teach English here - you don't have to understand it). So just to clarify - in our household there is (for lack of better terms) a matriarch and patriarch, two daughter-in-laws, two sons and 6 kids. Another son just came back from Russia a few days ago too - his name is Firuz and he's getting married in January. Muallim-Jon is a very respected community member and director of the local school - which Unicef built about 10 yrs ago. He is a diamond in the rough - kind, patient, progressive (ie: he believes that beating your wife and/or kids is wrong - a minority stance here). He is a fantastic language teacher and forgive the cliche - just a really good person. Khola-Jon is warm, funny and patient as well. The two kalenes have become dear friends and the three sons have adopted us into the family. We are so thankful for their patience with us and feel so fortunate to have a Tajik family that we are so bonded with. They treat us so well. We have the nicest and biggest room of the household to ourselves and they feed us three hot, fresh meals a day with lots of nuts, fruit and non to snack on in between meals if we want. We drink a TON of tea (choi). I'm guessing we've drank over 1000 cups (accumulatively - is that a word?) since we've been here. In the morning we eat non (fresh whole wheat flat bread) with milk fresh from the cow and drink tea. I'll explain a regular day another time. Lets just say, we couldn't eat any more fresh or healthy.

Rees has sparked a resurgence of Football (Soccer) in the neighborhood. Most afternoons the men play at the local school and they have even began to organize specail games on the weekend where lots of people come out to watch. He is meeting a lot of people and is experiencing a lot of favor relationally. still frustrated with the language barrier but very motivated to work hard at it.

Please Know that we are doing really good and thankyou for your prayers. We are starting to look at some apartments and hopefully within a week or 2 will have a place of our own and will have the ability to connect with many of you. until then we love you so much and may the Lord be with you.

THE BETTINGERS- Zafar, Niso, Soro, and Behruz.